My journey to an IELTS 8777
I see a lot of people nowadays struggling for these magical numbers, particularly for Canadian immigration. A major roadblock in achieving these is the writing section, so far so, I have seen a lot of people getting perfect scores in their IELTS with a 6.5 in writing every time. This engenders doubt in their minds with respect to the authenticity of this exam. Some believe it to be a money-making process in which a 6.5 in writing is given just to force people in re-appearing for IELTS multiple times.
I myself have been a victim of this mentality for some time and want to share my experience of how I overcame this barrier. I appeared for IELTS 5 times, and following are my respective scores:
IELTS attempt 1 — (British Council Academic-test center: Islamabad, Pakistan)
Listening: 8.5
Reading: 8.5
Writing: 7
Speaking: 7
Overall: 8
Note: This attempt was for IELTS Academic and not eligible for immigration purposes.
IELTS attempt 2 — (IDP General-test center: Faisalabad, Pakistan)
Listening: 8.5
Reading: 8.5
Writing: 6.5
Speaking: 7
Overall: 8
IELTS attempt 3 — (British Council General-test center: Lahore, Pakistan)
Listening: 9
Reading: 8
Writing: 6.5
Speaking: 7.5
Overall: 8
IELTS attempt 4 — (IDP General-test center: Islamabad, Pakistan)
Listening: 9
Reading: 8.5
Writing: 6.5
Speaking: 7.5
Overall: 8
IELTS attempt 5 — (IDP General-test center: Lahore, Pakistan)
Listening: 9
Reading: 9
Writing: 7
Speaking: 7.5
Overall: 8
As you can see from my scores; I have been oscillating between both the IDP and British council. The main reason for this was the myth that IDP is more tolerant than BC. I tried and tested each and every myth there is, including but not limited to:
- Appearing from IDP instead of BC because of it being more lenient.
- Appearing for IELTS from different cities because apparently people believed that marking is more lenient in centers where competition is less.
- Choosing the reason for IELTS to something other than immigration, so the IELTS people cannot know what I am sitting this test for and thereby don’t limit my writing score.
After 4 attempts in experimenting with different shortcuts and still being in vain, I decided on finally improving my English skills and actually preparing for IELTS writing the way it was meant to be. That is when I discovered the actual reasons I was not getting the score I desired. The following are the steps I observed/took which brought me closer to what I aimed for.
- The main error that candidates make on their writing tasks is a loss in focus. IELTS is testing our written communication skills and we need to understand this before sitting for the exam. When I say written communication skill, I mean to think and write ideas just like one does while speaking about a topic. After every line you write; ask if the newly written sentence somehow relates to the question or further develops the preceding written line.
- We need to engrain this in our minds that IELTS is not knowledge, but a language test. So we need to write the essays in a way that our intentions and purpose are crystal clear, the main reason why my score was limited to a 6.5 was that I used to write an academic-style essay rather than what was actually required for IELTS.
- Read the logic behind the grammar we use. Our minds have been wired to automatically write and check for a correct sentence based on intuition. Sometimes, when not used properly, this can lead to grammatically incorrect sentences. Try reading the why of your sentences. Revisit the logic behind punctuations, usage of conjunctions, the difference between similarly spelled words like there/their and so on.
- Finally, practice all these techniques as much as possible. It is precedented that you will be more nervous in exam conditions and bound to miss some nitty-gritty details which you wouldn’t in normal circumstances. Hence, practice as much as possible so you don’t have to rely on your nervous mind too much. I used to get extremely bored while practicing IELTS essays so instead I started writing on Quora ( https://www.quora.com/profile/Umer-Tahir-1). It was an exhilarating experience for me; not only was I improving my English skills, but I was also getting encouragement by getting new followers every day.
To summarize, IELTS is not difficult at all. It was just that I was avoiding the actual efforts needed to get the score I required. Once, I started making these mandatory efforts, it became quite crackable to me.
Note: This is just a general article about the myths and overall gist of the efforts I put in scoring crossing the 8777 barrier. However, if you need more detailed insights on my methods and practices, feel free to go through my Quora answers. I have written much more about my experiences, methods, and efforts over here:
